Single-electron soliton avalanches in tunnel-junction arrays - art. no. 041302

Numerical modeling of correlated single-electron tunneling in uniform two-d imensional arrays of small conducting islands separated by tunnel junctions shows the possibility of soliton-antisoliton avalanches. Though the time d uration of any avalanche and the total charge, DeltaQ=ne, transferred acros s the array during the avalanche are always finite in arrays with length N larger than certain critical value N-c and large width M, the avalanche mag nitude n may be exponentially large, resulting in particular in a giant inc rease of shot noise. Thermal fluctuations gradually suppress the avalanche effect. Background charge disorder may lead (in larger arrays) to a gradual change of avalanche character and to a crossover from the avalanche-induce d shot noise to l/f-type noise.